Boots and pharmacy Medicentre are the most notable absentees from a list of Jesmond retailers who have joined a campaign to cut down the number of plastic bags used by shoppers in the Acorn Road area.

As reported last month by JesmondLocal, the aim of the Transition Jesmond campaign, dubbed, “Greening Jesmond”, is to discourage shops from distributing free plastic bags and encouraging shoppers to use their own. And now the group has launched a directory of local traders, grading them according to their compliance with the campaign.

The accreditation system awards “green leaf” symbols so that shoppers know how committed each trader is to supporting the campaign:

* Three leaves – either charges for plastic bags or does not offer at all. The traders with three leaves so far include Cafe 1901, Central Bean Coffee, Conservatory, Fat Hippo Cafe, Jules, Kitschin, Me Me Me, Oxfam Books, Pitch and Polo, Starbucks, Taylors and Timpsons.

* Two leaves – is taking action to reduce the use of plastic bags. Traders with two leaves so far include Acorn Hardware, Daniel Footwear, Gourmet Gifts, Greggs, Johnson Cleaners, Oxfam (general) and Tesco.

* One leaf – is due to introduce a plan to reduce use within the next 12 months. There are no traders with one leaf at the moment.

According to the campaign’s Tony Waterstone, Boots and Medicentre are the only notable traders who have refused to take any action on the use of plastic bags and is urging local people using these shops to carry out some “friendly questioning” on the issue.

You can download the complete list here:

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